Whether dealing with auto repair shops or Internet service providers or any number of businesses, we’ve all heard the promise of “better service at a better price.”

Well, taxpayers should demand the same. Taxpayers are both the owners and the customers of government. Their tax dollars finance it, and they consume its services. That’s why Oklahomans should be grateful to our new governor, Kevin Stitt, who has made it clear in bringing his business background to state leadership that he intends to deliver better service at a better price.

From his personnel appointments to his insistence on efficiency, accountability, and economy in his inaugural message and “State of the State” address, Gov. Stitt has made it clear that he intends to bring the idea of good service at a fair price into state government.

The legislative session is moving quickly, and lawmakers are now busy working in their assigned committees to sort through relevant bills and resolutions.

I am pleased to say that our legislators have filed many bills that seek to directly impact and improve child well-being. In fact, two of those bills have been the result of a collaboration between elected officials and one of our OICA advocates, a young man who is an alumnus of the foster care system in Oklahoma.

The first of those is House Bill 2331, which proposes the creation of the Families Actively Made for Independent-Living-Aged Youth (FAMILY) Act.

The FAMILY Act would help keep siblings in foster care together by assisting with the additional pay for those with therapeutic needs and providing the same payment for those without the need for additional support.

My wife and I got the news on May 30, 1989. Our full term, 9-month-old son was dead. Karen had not felt the baby move in a couple of days, and when she checked into the hospital to deliver our son the worst news ever was reported; our son was dead.

Something had happened. Somehow, tragically the umbilical cord either had a kink in it or was wrapped around the baby’s neck, but oxygen somehow had been cut off to our son.

I watched the delivery of my first two beautiful sons ecstatically celebrating each birth. Watching the medical team deliver Jesse Caleb, who was now dead, ranks as one of the most emotional, gut-wrenching moments of my life.

When he was delivered the doctor wrapped him in a blanket and handed him to me to hold next to Karen. He was beautiful in every way. Physically, he was perfect. Nothing at all appeared wrong with our son. There was just one major problem, he wasn’t breathing.